This invention is directed to a handling device particularly suited for picking up and releasing discs for compact disc players and the like.
Music and other audio signals are sampled, digitized and then recorded on discs. The modern compact disc is supplied to the consumer in a box in which the disc is protected and retained. Since a great deal of information is coded on the disc, it is necessary to protect the surface of the disc from receiving noise information from such sources as dust and fingerprints. Thus, the disc should be enclosed, and if handled in the fingers, should only be handled at the edges. In order to prevent the disc from moving in its box, which movement might have an adverse effect on the information bearing surface, the box is provided with a plurality of resilient fingers which engage within the central hole in the disc to hold it in place. These fingers must be released when the disc is lifted out of its box. At present, there is no device which permits the handling of such a disc without finger contact on the disc.